Automatic cut-off for engines.



No. 645,l22. Paten ted Mar. l3, I900. J. B. OPSAHL. AUTOMATIC GUT-OFF FOR ENGINES.

(Application filed June 24, 1899.)

(No Model.)

THE ucmms PETER! ca. PHGTDLITHOY. msnmccrou. u, c,

- JOHAN BUROI-IARDT OPSAI-IL, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

AUTOMATIC CUT-OFF FOR ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,122, dated March 13, 1900.

Application filed Tune 24, 1899. Serial No. 721,797- (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHAN BUROHARDT OP- SAHL, of the city of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga, in the State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Cut-Offs for High-Speed Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in automatic cut-off high-speed engines; and the object of the invention is to devise a simple, compact, and noiseless form of engine which may be driven at a very high rate of speed and cut off at any point of the stroke; audit consists, essentially, of two rotary circumferential slide-valves surrounding the cylinder and comprising a plurality of orifices communicating with a plurality of orifices in the ends of the cylinder, the slide-valves being connected together and operated through a gear-ring and pinion operatively connected and driven from the main driving-shaft of the engine, the parts being constructed and arranged in detail, as hereinafter more particularly explained.

Figure l is a sectional perspective View of my engine complete. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan showing the gear-ring and pinion. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan through the steam-chest and rotary slide-valve. Fig. 4 is a detail of the bevel-gear and arc-shaped keyway and key designed for reversing.

In the drawings like letters and numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

A is the piston; '13, the piston-rod; O, the frame or pedestal; D, the connecting-rod; E, the crank; F, the main shaft; G, the base, and H the inlet-pipe.

I I are the upper and lower exhaust-pipes.

J and J are the upper and lower flanged rings secured to the end of the cylinder and provided with the annular exhaust-chambers j and j, from which extend the exhaust-pipes I and 1.

a and a are a series of openings made in the cylinder at the heads thereof and having extending and forming part of the same the notched recesses a and a respectively,which extend radially into the heads of the cylinder. (See Figs. 1 and 3.) It will be noticed that the openings a and c are arranged cir- V cumferentially around the cylinder at equal distances apart.

K is a rotary slide-valve having the internal recess 7t designed to communicate with the opening a in order to exhaust, as will hereinafter appear.

76 are openings extending through the ringvalve K and substantially L-shaped in form and designed to form inlets for the admission of the steam, as will hereinafter appear. The openings in! are situated equidistant apart, as also the openings or recesses 7c, and are radially arranged in exact and equal relation to the openings aand a in both the bottom and top ends of the cylinder.

L is a cut-off ring which is provided with a series of openings Z, designed to control the point of cut-off of the steam through the illlet-openings Z is a toothed segment secured on the periphery of the upper and lower cut-01f rings L, and M are toothed segments secured on the spindle m, suitably journaled in the outer casing N. The spindle m is provided with suitable bearings in the casing and extends outwardly through a supporting-bearing m, secured to the pedestal.

m is a handwheel on the end of the spindle m.

m is a spring-dog which is secured to a suitable portion of the frame or pedestal and is designed to operate against the toothed wheel m so as to hold the spindle from rotation once it has been set.

It will be seen by manipulating the handwheel m the segments M will also be turned, and thereby impart through the toothed segments L a corresponding movement to the cut-off ring L, and thus regulate the point of cut-off of the steam admitted through the steam-chest N, formed between the casing N and the cylinder. The exhaust-recesses 7c are connected to the exhaust-ringsj and j by the passage-waysfi. ings of course the inlet-openings 7a are shown at the bottom of the cylinder opposite the openings a and the cut-off openings 1 in the ring L in the upper portion of the cylinder, and necessarily the exhaust-openings 7a are shown opposite the openings at, and these openings communicate with the exhaust-ring by the passage-ways j It will thus be un- In Fig. l in the draw- 'gine.

derstood that at this period the piston is traveling upward, being impelled by the steam admitted through the openings ct, 7t, and Z.

In order to provide for the continual rotation of the slide-valve, so as to admit the steam from the steam-chest N into the lower and upper portion of the cylinder alternately, I provide a gear-ring O, which hashearings in the annular groove 0, surrounding the cylinder A. The gear-ring is connected by the rods 0 to lugs or arms Z and Z attached to or forming part of the upper and lower gearrings L. The gear-ring is driven by the pinion O, meshingtherewith and secured on the ends of the spindle 0 which is provided with a bevel-pinion o meshing with a similar pinion fon the end of the main shaft. dle '0 is suitably journaled at the top and bottom in the frame, as indicated, and is pro-' vided with a hand-wheel 0 in order to provide for the rotation of the ring in order to admit the steam to start the engine.

To reverse the en gine,it is simply necessary to grasp the hand-wheel 0 so as to turn the rotary slide valve or ring L into the same position on the opposite side of the openings a and athat is to say, to turn the spindle around a little ahead of the speed of the en- 2 moving within the keyway 3 in the bevelpinion 0 Immediately the key 2 reaches the opposite end of the keyway and the position of. the openings or ports in the slidevalve is changed the engine is reversed and the key necessarily stays at this end of the slot.

It will be seen from the simple arrangement of the gearing herein described connected to the upper and lower rotary slide-valves that such ring-valves will be operated alternately, so as to admit the steam at one end of the cylinder and exhaust at the other, and thus impart the desired reciprocating movement.

One great advantage in the construction of my rotary valve is that there is very much less friction in its operation on account of it making such a short turn in its rotation for the admission and exhaust of the steam.

Among other advantages are, first, the small clearance; secondly, the possibility of reachin g a very large compression necessary to engines of a very high speed in order to counteract the inertia of the moving mass, (by the reversing of the direction of the impetus of the piston;) thirdly, equal opening and closing of the steam-ports; fourthly, the greater area of the steam-ports when opened; fifthly, the complete balancing of the rotary slide-valve sixthly, the minimum distance traveled by each rotary slide-valve for each revolution; seventhly, the independence of the compression and expansion; eighthly, the simplicity of reversing, and, ninthly, the practicability of cutting off at any part of the stroke.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is 1. In an engine, the combination with the The spin- This is permitted by means of the key cylinder-having ports therein in proximity to its heads and the piston and piston-rod, of the steam-chest surrounding said cylinder, a rotary slide-valve located therein having exhaust and admission ports, the cut-off rings provided with ports also located in said steamchest and surrounding and closely'fitting said Valve and means for actuating the valve and ring, substantially as described.

2. In an engine, the combination with the cylinder having ports in the Wall thereof in proximity to its heads and a piston and rod of a steam-chest surrounding said cylinder, rotary slide-valves located in said chest and surrounding the cylinder, a cut-off ring fitted to each of said valves and inclosing the same, a gear-rin g having a bearing on said cylinder, means for rotating said gear and connection leading from the gear to each valve for rotating the same.

3. In an automatic cut-off high-speed engine, in combination the cylinder, the piston and piston-rod suitably connected to the shaft, the steam-chest surrounding the cylinderand provided with a suitable inlet-pipe, the circumferentially-alined holes in the cylinder in proximity to the heads thereof, the rotary slide-valves provided with the exhaust-recesses and admission-openings, the cut-off ring provided with corresponding openings, all openings or recesses being equidistantlyarranged, the annular exhaust-rings at the ends of the cylinder provided with suitable exhaust-pipes, the passage-ways leading from the exhaust-recesses in the slide-valve to the annular exhaust-rings, the gear-ring having a bearing on the cylinder, the lugs extending radially from the rotary slide-valve rings, the rods extending through such lugs and the gear-ring, and the spindle and gear-pinions by which such ring derives a rotary movement from the main shaft as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination with the cylinder having the circumferential openings at the end, the rotary slide-valve having the exhaust and inlet openings, the gear-ring, the main shaft, and the spindle having the pinion meshing with the gear-ring, of the beveled pinion mesh- :ingwith the beveled pinion on the main shaft, the key on the spindle, the coactin g arc-shaped keyway in the bevel-pinion on the spindle and the hand-wheel on the spindle as and for the purpose specified;

5. The combination with the cylinder having the end circumferential openings, the rotary slide-valve having suitable inlet and exhaust openings, the cut-off ring having the segments affixed thereto and the operatingspindle having segments meshing with the aforesaid segments as and for the purpose specified.

J OHAN BUROHARDT OPSAHL.

Witnesses:

J. WARD SCHERMERI-IORN, EDWARD E. KINGMANN, 

